Teaching spatial planning

with municipalitiesPaulo Silva paulosilva@ua.pt

Departamento de Ciências Sociais,

Políticas e do Território,

Universidade de Aveiro

Introduction

Challenges faced by spatial planning

(Silva, Farrall, 2016)

A main reason to “submerge” students in

more professional contexts

The Context – spatial planning in the UA:

• 1st Portuguese institution to launch a BsC on

regional and urban planning (PRU) program (1983) |

1st Portuguese school to become a member of the

Association of European Schools of Planning

(AESOP);

• Minor on Spatial Planning and Urbanism / 1st cycle of

Public Administration | Master program of Regional

and Urban Planning

• Focus on governance, collaborative rationale, multi-

level approaches

The Context – spatial planning in Esmoriz

and Ovar

Esmoriz:

• Needing a planning approach (2nd city of Ovar, close

to Porto metropolitan area and NUTII Norte)

• Aiming for partnership with the university of Aveiro.

Municipality of Ovar:

• Providing institutional and logistic support

The process involving

Around 45 UA students from 2 yrs x 2 cycles

4 universities including teachers, guests and

students (Aveiro, Lisboa, Porto, Gdansk)

1 municipality (Ovar)

3 parishes (Esmoriz, Cortegaça, Maceda)

• Visit to the site with local authorities (Esmoriz).

• Local authorities’ talk with the students (Aveiro).

• Talks with planners from the municipality of Ovar

(Esmoriz).

• Public presentation (Esmoriz);

• Seminars with municipality of Espinho planner and

prof. Fatima Alves from UA (Aveiro);

• Exhibition of works during the Esmoriz Urbanism

Meeting (Esmoriz);

2013 / 2014, 2nd semester

2014 / 2015, 1st semester

• Studio works extended to 3 parishes – Esmoriz,

Cortegaça and Maceda - involving 2 PRU master

program curricular units - Urban Forms (1st year),

Urban Regeneration Policies (2nd year)

• Students from 1st cycle of Public Administration /

Minor of Spatial Planning and Urbanism produced

models from urban spaces of Esmoriz (curricular

unit of Representations of Space).

2014 / 2015, 2nd semester

• Urban Planning (PRU) studio works were extended

to three parishes of Ovar – Esmoriz, Cortegaça and

Maceda.

• Urban Design studio works focused on specific

areas of Esmoriz (BsC Public Administration, minor

of Spatial Planning and Urbanism).

• Joint visits to Esmoriz were organized.

• Master students prepared session to 1st cycle

students on Esmoriz urban structures.

• An international workshop took place during the 1st

week of June.

• Results were presented at the 2nd Esmoriz

urbanism meeting (12.06.2015).

2014 / 2015, 2nd semester (cont.)

2013/14 2014/2015

1st semester 2nd semester 1st semester 2nd semester

UA & municipality of Ovar / parish of Esmoriz

Getting together ExperimentingModerate public exposure

Exploring in new curricular units

Re-formulating previous experiencesEnhancing public exposure

Regional and Urban PlanningMSc program

Oct. - 1st contact between Esmoriz local authoritiesand MPRU

Esmoriz as case study for Urban Planning studio classes

Studio work extendedto Cortegaça and Maceda

PublicAdministration BSc program | Spatial Planning and Urbanism minor

Esmoriz as a basis for Spatial Representations studio classes

Esmoriz as case study for Urban Design studio classes

The Process (looking back)

The Outcomes for the students:

A better understanding of public institutions’

expectations and urban agents’ dynamics;

A more “down to earth” approach;

An interaction of students and urban agents in a not

totally exposed context.

The Outcomes for local authorities:

It allows external insights;

It gives space to experimentation;

It eases public interaction mixing more formal and

more informal contexts;

Helps to improve communication channels with local

communities.

And some risks

Of over-using the same case study | territory

Of missing the balance between theory and practice

(from too “academic” to too “professional”)

Final Ideas

Dare to improvise if that means to grasp the

opportunity;

To be flexible and adapt methods to students needs;

To give importance to public exposure, fieldtrips,

agents’ interaction;

To not over do it!

An alternative to students without the “traditional”

architectural skills.

ReferencesSILVA, P., (2014), «Teaching urban form in public administration

context: aims and challenges», in OLIVEIRA, V., PINHO, P.,

BATISTA, L., PATATAS, T. (eds.), Our common future in urban

morphology, FEUP, Porto, p. 394

SILVA, P., FARRALL, H., (2016), «Lessons from informal

settlements: a ‘peripheral’ problem with self-organising solutions»,

in DE ROO, G., ZHANG, S. (eds.), Town Planning Review, special

issue Self-Organization and Spatial Planning, Liverpool University

Press, Liverpool

Obrigado!